Page 31
Media: the New
Generation Teacher
Words Hannah George
Credit: UnsplashMass media has a detrimental effect on our minds and therefore influences how society is educated. Media has consumed the lives of many young people that they live their whole lives based on what is communicated through various media platforms to the extent where we cannot be sure if they have the ability to think for themselves outside the existent walls of media communications. Growing up in a society where the media so heavily bestows its burdens on us, especially the young people - I don’t believe they have any time to really discover who they are, as most of their time is spent on social media.
Whereas media can be seen as a separate entity to education, that is what has our young people hooked, influencers on media platforms are shaping and controlling their behaviour and thought processes. Is the media the new generation's teacher? I speak of mass media as if it is a person because young people have such close relations with various media platforms that they feel they cannot live without media, they depend on the media to school them through life replacing teachers. They depend on the media to nurture them replacing the role of a mother. They depend on the media to protect them, replacing the role of a father. Media dictates how they should feel today, the media dictates what clothes they will buy on the weekend, the media defines what beauty is, the media defines what love is. Media infiltrates the lives of many young people with words and pictures before they have even grasped an understanding of what their own perspective of the world is.
A question we must ask is that as young people are enslaved by the words and actions of others, are young people really living how they wish? Or are they living by the interjections of peoples highs and lows expressed through mass media platforms?
Credit: UnsplashIt can be argued that there is a struggle between culture and change, however our youth struggle to break out of the culture controlled by the media. It has resulted in mass media becoming the most influential yet lethal weapon to impose psychological abuse on our young people. We can be alarmed by the unexpected viruses that break out around the world but do we realise that there are many slow mental deaths that are happening everyday as our young people are living a lifestyle which they would not live if the media had not exposed them to or made them feel exempt to the society they live in. In other words, they are dying to their true selves and living for the media. It has got to the point where youth feel they need to engage in media platforms to feel relevant or normal. Ask yourself, do teachers and schools have any impact on our young people’s life?
Whatever is expressed through the media only echo’s and establishes itself in the lives of those who accept what is being communicated to them, enforcing social norms. Media not only programmes young people’s minds…before they can even understand what programming is, but it is a drug, an addiction to many. A lot of people use media to relieve their pain which has led to an increase of digital abuse, shaping the culture of the youth to react in a certain way.
Credit: UnsplashMass media entraps what we call youth culture into media communities, such as the community of Twitter or the community of Facebook, making these media platforms the gatekeepers of information for set periods of time. The youth attach themselves to a media community only to just increase the numbers of members or followers in those media clans. This results in stereotypes and determines what they think and how they think, instead of receiving self development support from schools. They can never hear their own thoughts because their minds are so polluted with the voices of the 100 comments about one twitter post. This increases comparisons and anxiety leaving them to feel they need to fit into a culture rather than to live a unique and liberal life. It shapes their perceptions of reality and clogs up their consciousness leaving them with underlined mental health issues.
Whoever controls the media, controls youth culture. If the youth do not have the conviction of who they truly are and their own moral beliefs system unfortunately, nowadays it is very common for a young person to lose their grip of who they are. This is why they settle for less and are easily swayed by the media, who fail to play their part in uniting and inspiring the youth rather causing disparity and strife.
The schools need to take action and restore sanity to our young people before they get consumed in the social media world. Here are a few tips:
Credit: UnsplashPut Limits on Social Media Platforms
Every young person should have a limit on how much they use social media and other media platforms within a day and the schools should track this to ensure a healthy development of their students.
Teach them the Impact of the Media on
their Minds
Where media has such influence on many lives, there should be more teachings on the impacts of social media on their minds so that they can see that they are engrossed more so in the lives of others before they have developed an independent knowing of who they are.
Mental Health Lessons to Save Our Youth
Where mental health has become a concern especially for young people due to the increase of digital abuse through various media platforms as they are exposed to a world of many possibilities, fears, pressures and even freedoms that they may not have the capacity or understanding to mentally process mental health lessons should be encouraged. The teachers should also participate as they should know how to analyse if a student’s actions have been manipulated through media influences and how to handle it.
Positive Influencers
As students will use various media platforms they should be taught how to create and have a positive impact, how to make someone’s day better by spreading positivity or by posting uplifting pictures or comments to inspire other students to be better.
Credit: UnsplashHannah George - WOTC Online Editor
